The Painting Party! An Interior Design Perspective on Building a New House in Toronto

I’m building a new house in Toronto. I’ve been working in the interior design field for more than 15 years but this is the first time I’m doing my own project. So, I decided to document the entire experience on my blog – taking an interior design perspective to explore the many challenging decisions that arise when building a house. I’ll be updating the blog and adding new posts every week (and sometimes daily), so please check back regularly.

Although the entire process of getting the building permit dragged on and on with delay after delay. Things started moving rather quickly the minute we got the permit. We had to move our belongings to temporary storage, complete our move to temporary accommodation for the duration of the build, finalize the contract with our builder, and, most importantly, plan ‘the painting party’.

We have a seven year-old son. He’s been hearing about the plans to give him a new house for most of his life. It has been a bit of a family joke because we’ve done a lot of talking but it didn’t seem like we were ever going to build the house.

So a few years back, we promised him that we would hold a ‘painting party’ where he and his friends could go crazy painting the empty — ready to be demolished — house. It was a spur of the moment promise that he never forgot. Not only did he regularly request status updates on when he could hold the painting party, but since he had discussed it with many of his school friends, we were also inundated with questions from them about when they could paint the house. Finalmente – we could deliver!

The kids painted everything! Pretty much every wall, the floors, and they even figured out how to get paint on the ceilings. They painted the stairs and railings, and the glass on the doors. Along the way they produced lots of contemporary art with some impressive portraits – clearly some budding-Picassos!

It’s almost a shame that we have to demolish the house. Almost.

To view a list of my other blog posts, including more on building a new house in Toronto, please click here.